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Friday, July 2, 2010

Iggy meets Betty Windsor, and other sound-offs

Now, isn't it about time he got back to the business of offering an effective opposition and an alternative to PMS?

Iggy still strongly supports corporate welfare for the tar sands; says he sticks by Ontario and BC introducing the HST which kicked in yesterday (along with a simultaneous 2 percent hike of the tax in Nova Scotia) although he also wants to "mitigate" the impact on lower income Canadians, and says that while he wants to engage Mainland China on human rights abuses also doesn't want to antagonize Beijing.

I'll go through the list with my responses:

With the crap all four of Betty Windsor's kids have put her through, it's impressive she manages to have a sense of humour after all these years. Then again, several of her Prime Ministers in the UK have managed to piss her off as well (a matter of discrete yet still public record) -- not to mention the opposition leaders there. Forget the jokers we have in Ottawa, the GG is pissed off with them enough.

If he wants the "Green Vote" he has to take a strong stance with Big Oil: Either the sands have to be shut down and Big Oil forced to replant several trees for every one they cut down to mine a non-renewable natural resource ... or they lose corporate welfare and have to assume one hundred percent of clean-up costs. He also has to impress on Alberta the need for a more realistic royalty rate for extraction and the need to save up the money for a rainy day and not to fund pork-barrel projects.

The HST is a reality, and it can't be undone. And it won't be, no matter what any politican says, or any petitions, or any "recall" campaigns. Here in Ontario, we're having to grin and bear it ... at least there's a weak promise to further reduce provincial income taxes if business cost reductions aren't passed on to the consumer, but it's just hot air for now. And frankly, the anti-HST war in BC has a very unwelcome ally in Bill "Fantastic" Vander Zalm -- whose social conservatism makes PMS look like a socialist. Vander Zalm has no credibility after Fantasy Gardens, despite his being acquitted (even he admitted he could be accused of "stupidity" -- his word), or his doing PSAs for BC's auto insurance monopoly. If Iggy wants to keep the combined tax he needs to offer realistic solutions on how to reduce the income tax burden on Canadians (particularly lower and middle income Canadians) while maintaining or increasing revenues. And he needs to do so well before Harper calls an election so that the latter has no chance to get the upper hand.

Beijing has antagonized the West enough. It hacks into electric grids and shuts down entire cities in the democratic world. It has an intelligence and corporate spy network that makes the FSB / KGB look like Keystone Kops. And while Canada certainly does have a lot to answer for on the human rights file, it pales in comparison to Mainland China who are the masters of rights abuses. If they don't want to comply with internationally accepted norms, then we need to start re-linking trade to progress in reforms. Iggy needs to draw the line somewhere. Why not on this?

If Harper had his way, it is possible the Queen would not have been able to meet with any of the opposition leaders here at all. So it's good that Mr. Ignatieff got his chance to air where he would take this country. Now it's time for him to tell the rest of us. Time is running out, and we don't need a majority right-wing government. Canadians don't want buttered scones, we need the meat and potatoes.

Come on, can we stop with the Ignatieff criticisms already. He is our leader, and doing for the most part a very goodjob in an unforgiveable position, leader of the Opposition....Make no mistake about it, once we regain power he will go down as one of Canada's finest PMs. For the time being - back off.

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About Me

I'm a free thinking spirit with a lot of axes to grind and am not afraid to speak my mind. I know I'm not perfect but I do try to keep my head on straight while keeping an open mind. And yes ... I am still single and hating it.

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HELP ATTAWAPISKAT

Incredibly, Stephen Harper STILL doesn't want these Cree children to have a proper school like non-natives have access to. I do, and so should you. A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian -- whatever the colour of their skin, whatever their religion, whatever their name.

Love: "Falling in love is awfully simple. Falling out of love is simply awful." -- allegedly said by Friedrich Nietzsche

Ideas: "You can imprison a mouse or a man, but you can never imprison an idea." --Tommy Douglas

Imagination: "An imagination is a powerful tool. It can tint memories of the past, shade perceptions of the present, or paint a future so vivid that it can entice...or terrify, all depending on how we conduct ourselves today." -- Jim Davis, creator of Garfield

Education does not (always) equal wisdom: "I'll tell you where I got my education. At Screw U." -- Dolly Parton

You think life is unfair? "This is not Burger King. You can't have it your way." -- Joni Eareckson Tada, mouth painter and evangelical leader

Doomsday Televangelists: "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." -- Charles M Schulz, creator of Peanuts

Victory Without War: "Real peace is an illusion. It has never existed and will never exist. Real peace is not an end to conflict, but a means of living with conflict." -- President Richard Nixon

Civil Rights: "We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a country and as a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot be left to increased demonstrations in the streets. It cannot be quieted by token moves or talk. It is a time to act in the Congress, in your state and local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives. It is not enough to pin the blame on others, to say this is a problem of one section of the country or another, or deplore the fact that we face. A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all. Those who do nothing are inviting shame as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality." -- President John F Kennedy

On No WMD in Iraq: "A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." -- Prime Minister Jean Chrétien

Truth: "Life was much more certain behind the Iron Curtain ... The truth was always easy to identify: Everything in Pravda was a lie." -- George Bowser and Ricky Blue, comedians

Response to "My Country Right or Wrong": "When right, keep it right; and when wrong, make it right." -- John F. Kerry, US Senator

Why I am a progressive: "Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives." -- John Stuart Mill

Looking on the bright side of life: "I still believe in a place called Hope." -- President William J. Clinton

The bright side (Part Deux): "Yes we can!" -- Senator Barack H. Obama

On the funeral home industry: "Jesus didn't need his vault for long. I mean, He was up and out in only three days." -- Jessica Mitford, noted atheist, speaking to six funeral directors.

Why government and business are in bed together: "It is difficult for a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair

Grace in adversity: "Every time I'm on ABC, I crash." -- Vinko Bogotaj, the "Agony of Defeat" ski jumper (after he was involved in a car crash on the way to an interview to celebrate the anniversary of the infamous 1971 tumble)